Over the past couple years, with everything grinding to a halt due to Covid, I haven't really been very busy with making things, especially chainmail. Right as things locked down, I was able to take some time to make my payment banner (I still love it so much!), but after that I just got a little down.
My enthusiasm waned and I couldn't work up even the smallest desire to really make anything. I was able to force myself to make some bookmarks, but overall that was the most I could really get into. It turned out to be a kind of crafting depression. As my cross stitch group buddies would say, I lost my stitchy bug.
Things are starting to pick back up. Now, after having had a few very successful conventions recently, I have been starting to see the light at the end of the doldrum tunnel (yes, I understand I am mixing metaphors). A couple weeks ago, I got to have a booth at the biggest convention I have ever been to (both as attendee or vendor). I have a picture of my initial setup below, which I was NOT happy with initially.
Luckily, I didn't have to put up with this setup long.
The way the artist alley tables were setup were 3 tables in a row. One side (that you can see to the right of my booth picture) is up against the two endcap booths. Because of the pipe and drape setup, there was not a way to get through there. On the other end, there was a space (not as wide as the aisle, but really too narrow for customers to cut through). There was very little room behind the table for anything, too. This means whenever we had to leave the boot (bathroom, food, etc), we had to crawl over the other two booths of people to get out. Not fun.
The artist who was in the other side of our group of 3 actually had very large items to sell, and was able to work with management to get a better booth placement, so that left an empty space. The table next to me moved all the way over to their spot, and the two of us shared the table between us. I was able to spread out, and add a lot more things! Because of this, I was able to rearrange my booth and got a much better setup than before. (Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the new arrangement).
This was a great con to sell my chainmail! Whilst overall, I didn't come away with as much profit as I was expecting, I did actually sell a lot more of my chainmail than I usually do. Because of this (and because I have noticed my stretchy bracelets are looking a little sparse in the picture BEFORE I sold any at the con), I have decided on a big chainmail inventory push. This has motivated me to start working on my chainmail again! I decided to make a full set of every color for each of my main weaves with black rubber for my stretchy bracelets. I also have a list of other things to make, as well. I need to replenish my inventory!
My enthusiasm has been renewed! I have already made a bunch of bracelets, with many more to come! I also want to make a full set of dice bags, one of each color with black rubber. Who doesn't love a checklist? I have been able to check off each bracelet as I make it, and that gives me the urge to keep going. I can't wait to see how much I can come up with!